Auburn Hills Fire Department to provide full-transport EMS

Department will terminate current Star Ambulance contract

The Auburn Hills Fire Department will be shifting its full-transport emergency medical service from a contractor to current staff and equipment in a move that officials say will increase efficiency.

Auburn Hills Fire Department Deputy Director Jim Manning said the primary gain by terminating the existing contract with Star Ambulance is the ability to utilize more on-call personnel during peak service hours.

“The name of the game for us is in personnel,” he said. “Because of the call volume of our city, it can be slow. Because of their schedule, they don’t have the opportunity to be engaged. It’ll schedule them for peak times when we need additional personnel and while we’re doing that we’ll be able to work on training and skills. When they’re not responding to calls they can assist in other areas as well.”

Manning said it costs Auburn Hills taxpayers the same as if they had maintained the contract with Star, which handled the city’s emergency medical service needs since around 2006.

“It can generate enough revenue to cover enough cost on the EMS side that we’re currently paying,” he said. “We’re getting more personnel on duty especially during our peak times and we’re not costing the citizens any more money because we’re recouping the money ourselves.”

In the event of a heavy load of medical-related calls, the department will contract with a back-up ambulance service.

“There are times we get back-to-back medicals,” he said. “If they’re all tied up, we’ll contract with a back-up ambulance so there is no gap in service to the citizens.”

Where that back-up ambulance service will come from is still to be determined; the fire department will eventually put out a request for bids for the service.

Auburn Hills City Manager Peter Auger said the move — suggested by the fire personnel themselves — is part of a larger plan to improve the city’s emergency response capabilities.

“We’re upgrading our emergency dispatch system to have emergency medical dispatch as a component,” he said. “We think we’re even going to get more efficiency out of our operations by only sending the apparatus we need per incident.”

“We’ll be able to tailor that more and send the appropriate equipment,” he added. “It’s almost like a business model.”

Star EMS President/CEO Bill Grubb said that he understands the city’s desire to address its own emergency medical needs.

“We’ve certainly enjoyed our relationship with Auburn Hills and plan to continue our relationship although in a different way,” Grubb said, adding that Star EMS will be placing a bid for back-up service when the opportunity comes. “It will be different going forward but we still look forward to having a strong relationship with them.”

Manning said the fire department has yet to notify Star EMS of an intent to terminate the contract — which has no set end date — but it will give a 90-day notice when personnel are appropriately prepared.

He predicts a period of 120 days will be necessary to prepare so that “when we are ready to go on day one, we’ve got everything lined up flawlessly.”